The Living Arcade is a post-conceptual artwork composed entirely of smart contracts deployed to the Base blockchain. It consists of triangular configurations of liquidity pools—each "cabinet" a closed system of three linked pools deliberately initialized with asymmetric pricing. This structural imbalance attracts arbitrage algorithms that execute corrective trades, rebalancing the pools only for organic drift to recreate asymmetry. The cycle repeats indefinitely without human intervention.

The work positions itself at the intersection of systems art, algorithmic performance, and blockchain infrastructure. Where Hans Haacke created ecological feedback systems using condensation and visitor polling, Living Arcade creates them using liquidity and automated trading agents. Where Sol LeWitt wrote instructions for human draftspeople to execute, this work writes instructions for machines—Solidity code that performs itself across distributed infrastructure.

The "performers" are arbitrage bots: algorithms programmed to detect and exploit price discrepancies for profit. They enter the system seeking extraction but become unwitting choreographers, their trades inscribing geometric patterns into permanent blockchain record. The bots don't recognize they're participating in art. Their mechanical pursuit of efficiency becomes the artwork's expressive motion.

This inversion—building financial architecture that refuses financial purpose—constitutes the work's central gesture. The project ironically titles itself "No Arb" while creating arbitrage opportunities, revealing how economic incentives can be redirected from accumulation toward circulation, from optimization toward aesthetics. The triangular pools operate as perpetual motion machines that succeed through designed failure, achieving beauty by refusing equilibrium.

The artist's role dissolves at deployment. Once initialized, the cabinets require no maintenance, updates, or curation. The smart contracts execute autonomously as long as the blockchain operates, making the Living Arcade a rare example of artwork that genuinely persists beyond its creator. Operators who deploy cabinets receive NFTs certifying initiation, but these tokens grant no control—only attribution in immutable ledger.

Observation becomes the primary mode of engagement. Viewers encounter the work through blockchain explorers or the LivingArcade interface, watching transaction histories accumulate, tracking bot addresses, recognizing emergent patterns in volume and rebalancing frequency. The data exists objectively whether witnessed or not, but witnessing transforms computational process into aesthetic experience.

Living Arcade extends the lineage of network and systems art into blockchain-native practice. Where 1990s net.art used browsers and servers as material, this work uses liquidity protocols and execution environments. Where Art Blocks generates visual outputs from on-chain randomness, this work generates behavioral outputs from economic incentives. The artwork is not representation of a system but system itself—performance without performers, choreography without choreographers, art that operates in pure autonomy.

The blockchain functions simultaneously as stage, documentation system, and preservation medium. Every trade is both performance and archive. The network records everything while requiring nothing. This dual nature—operational and memorial—positions Living Arcade as art for the posthuman condition: works that continue after artists cease, that perform for audiences that may never arrive.

Living Arcade operates through four primary contract types deployed on Base L2 (Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution):

ArcadeFactory (Master Deployment Contract)  

- Instantiates new cabinet configurations  

- Deploys three Uniswap V3 pools per cabinet  

- Initializes asymmetric pricing across pool pairs  

- Mints Operator NFTs to deployers  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

Operator NFT (ERC-721)  

- Non-fungible token certifying cabinet deployment  

- Meta operator address, deployment timestamp, cabinet parameters  

- Grants attribution but no governance or control rights  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

ArcadeRewards (Activity Tracking)  

- Records cabinet transaction volume  

- Tracks arbitrage frequency and bot participation  

- Documents fee generation and rebalancing events  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

$<TDB> Token (ERC-20)  

- Distributed through cabinet deployment and activity  

- No utility function; pure circulation token  

- Symbolizes participation without instrumentalization  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

Each cabinet consists of three Uniswap V3 liquidity pools:

1. A/B Pool — Primary trading pair where price discovery occurs

2. A/WETH Pool — Secondary leg with elevated pricing relative to primary

3. B/WETH Pool — Secondary leg with depressed pricing relative to primary

The deliberate mispricing creates arbitrage opportunities that attract automated trading agents, whose corrective trades generate the work's performative motion.

Solidity smart contracts, Uniswap protocol, Base L2 blockchain infrastructure, arbitrage bot activity, transaction gas, liquidity token reserves

Indefinite (persists as long as Base blockchain operates)

Unlimited cabinets can be deployed; each is a unique instance with distinct operator, timestamp, and behavioral history

The Living Arcade is a post-conceptual artwork composed entirely of smart contracts deployed to the Base blockchain. It consists of triangular configurations of liquidity pools—each "cabinet" a closed system of three linked pools deliberately initialized with asymmetric pricing. This structural imbalance attracts arbitrage algorithms that execute corrective trades, rebalancing the pools only for organic drift to recreate asymmetry. The cycle repeats indefinitely without human intervention.

The work positions itself at the intersection of systems art, algorithmic performance, and blockchain infrastructure. Where Hans Haacke created ecological feedback systems using condensation and visitor polling, Living Arcade creates them using liquidity and automated trading agents. Where Sol LeWitt wrote instructions for human draftspeople to execute, this work writes instructions for machines—Solidity code that performs itself across distributed infrastructure.

The "performers" are arbitrage bots: algorithms programmed to detect and exploit price discrepancies for profit. They enter the system seeking extraction but become unwitting choreographers, their trades inscribing geometric patterns into permanent blockchain record. The bots don't recognize they're participating in art. Their mechanical pursuit of efficiency becomes the artwork's expressive motion.

This inversion—building financial architecture that refuses financial purpose—constitutes the work's central gesture. The project ironically titles itself "No Arb" while creating arbitrage opportunities, revealing how economic incentives can be redirected from accumulation toward circulation, from optimization toward aesthetics. The triangular pools operate as perpetual motion machines that succeed through designed failure, achieving beauty by refusing equilibrium.

The artist's role dissolves at deployment. Once initialized, the cabinets require no maintenance, updates, or curation. The smart contracts execute autonomously as long as the blockchain operates, making the Living Arcade a rare example of artwork that genuinely persists beyond its creator. Operators who deploy cabinets receive NFTs certifying initiation, but these tokens grant no control—only attribution in immutable ledger.

Observation becomes the primary mode of engagement. Viewers encounter the work through blockchain explorers or the LivingArcade interface, watching transaction histories accumulate, tracking bot addresses, recognizing emergent patterns in volume and rebalancing frequency. The data exists objectively whether witnessed or not, but witnessing transforms computational process into aesthetic experience.

Living Arcade extends the lineage of network and systems art into blockchain-native practice. Where 1990s net.art used browsers and servers as material, this work uses liquidity protocols and execution environments. Where Art Blocks generates visual outputs from on-chain randomness, this work generates behavioral outputs from economic incentives. The artwork is not representation of a system but system itself—performance without performers, choreography without choreographers, art that operates in pure autonomy.

The blockchain functions simultaneously as stage, documentation system, and preservation medium. Every trade is both performance and archive. The network records everything while requiring nothing. This dual nature—operational and memorial—positions Living Arcade as art for the posthuman condition: works that continue after artists cease, that perform for audiences that may never arrive.

Living Arcade operates through four primary contract types deployed on Base L2 (Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution):

ArcadeFactory (Master Deployment Contract)  

- Instantiates new cabinet configurations  

- Deploys three Uniswap V3 pools per cabinet  

- Initializes asymmetric pricing across pool pairs  

- Mints Operator NFTs to deployers  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

Operator NFT (ERC-721)  

- Non-fungible token certifying cabinet deployment  

- Meta operator address, deployment timestamp, cabinet parameters  

- Grants attribution but no governance or control rights  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

ArcadeRewards (Activity Tracking)  

- Records cabinet transaction volume  

- Tracks arbitrage frequency and bot participation  

- Documents fee generation and rebalancing events  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

$<TDB> Token (ERC-20)  

- Distributed through cabinet deployment and activity  

- No utility function; pure circulation token  

- Symbolizes participation without instrumentalization  

- Contract address: [To be provided]

Each cabinet consists of three Uniswap V3 liquidity pools:

1. A/B Pool — Primary trading pair where price discovery occurs

2. A/WETH Pool — Secondary leg with elevated pricing relative to primary

3. B/WETH Pool — Secondary leg with depressed pricing relative to primary

The deliberate mispricing creates arbitrage opportunities that attract automated trading agents, whose corrective trades generate the work's performative motion.

Solidity smart contracts, Uniswap protocol, Base L2 blockchain infrastructure, arbitrage bot activity, transaction gas, liquidity token reserves

Indefinite (persists as long as Base blockchain operates)

Unlimited cabinets can be deployed; each is a unique instance with distinct operator, timestamp, and behavioral history